I think its funny how Star Trek has had hand held devices like this for 20 something years in their shows. And I even told myself a while back "we need something like this." Apple finally made it happen.
I am still not sure if I like the entire paperless book thing, though, as I like having a library. But this thing is great for being able to get net access from anywhere around the house. Is the Touch convenient enough to browse the internet with for a few hours? No. Do you really want to lug your laptop everywhere around your house? No. The iPad is the perfect gap filler. Small enough to have anywhere for quick and easy net access and not too big to be inconvienient. Would I use it in place of the Touch outside the house? No as it does not easily fit in your pocket.
And what about computing power? Think about it, when was the last time you used all of the computing power of your laptop/computer? Most people never do. The average person uses maybe 1/1000th of the computational power their computers are capable of. Everyone's computer is capable of doing extreme calculations (at different levels of performance of course) from simple physics to calculating a satellite's trajectory through the universe. Computers laugh at doing simple things like taxes, watching videos and coasting the internet. This is where the iPad comes in. It will do everything for the average user and the power users will use it for when they don't need their power tools. It is the gap filler of the computing world.
And this is exactly how I do it now. I have my 600+w consuming PC gaming machine turned on only when I game, and I use my lightweight mini (both hooked up to a 24") for the rest of my regular tasks. I can finally throw away my 6 year old Dell Laptop that ALL I use for is surfing and emailing before bedtime and replace it with the iPad.
Yeah, all the haters are like "They pioneered nothing new," but guess what? Apple made it work for me with how I want to use it in a sleek and hassle free package.
I am still not sure if I like the entire paperless book thing, though, as I like having a library. But this thing is great for being able to get net access from anywhere around the house. Is the Touch convenient enough to browse the internet with for a few hours? No. Do you really want to lug your laptop everywhere around your house? No. The iPad is the perfect gap filler. Small enough to have anywhere for quick and easy net access and not too big to be inconvienient. Would I use it in place of the Touch outside the house? No as it does not easily fit in your pocket.
And what about computing power? Think about it, when was the last time you used all of the computing power of your laptop/computer? Most people never do. The average person uses maybe 1/1000th of the computational power their computers are capable of. Everyone's computer is capable of doing extreme calculations (at different levels of performance of course) from simple physics to calculating a satellite's trajectory through the universe. Computers laugh at doing simple things like taxes, watching videos and coasting the internet. This is where the iPad comes in. It will do everything for the average user and the power users will use it for when they don't need their power tools. It is the gap filler of the computing world.
And this is exactly how I do it now. I have my 600+w consuming PC gaming machine turned on only when I game, and I use my lightweight mini (both hooked up to a 24") for the rest of my regular tasks. I can finally throw away my 6 year old Dell Laptop that ALL I use for is surfing and emailing before bedtime and replace it with the iPad.
Yeah, all the haters are like "They pioneered nothing new," but guess what? Apple made it work for me with how I want to use it in a sleek and hassle free package.
Watching videos? I highly doubt I will as all I ever do in bed just before going to sleep is last minute reading. And you have never heard of those comfy bed back things for reading in bed? They are comfy. You should look into them. 
